Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ClearNewsUA/status/1615833490649489426


https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1615823291712774168


https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1615826024054542337

[Torie]

The Biden administration is warming to the idea of Ukraine being able to strike Crimea if only to enhance its bargaining position. But warming is not the same thing as going red hot alas per the second paragraph below. Biden has at least a mild case of the slows as per usual.

“American officials are discussing with their Ukrainian counterparts the use of American-supplied weapons, from HIMARS rocket systems to Bradley fighting vehicles, to possibly target Mr. Putin’s hard-fought control over a land bridge that functions as a critical supply route connecting Crimea to Russia via the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Mariupol.

‘However, President Biden is not yet ready to give Ukraine the long-range missile systems that Kyiv would need to attack Russian installations on the peninsula.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/us/politics/ukraine-crimea-military.html

[rc18]

https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1615823291712774168

Germany: "We're not going to get ahead of our NATO allies in sending tanks."

UK: *sends tanks*

Germany: "Well, obviously we weren't talking about that NATO ally, we meant the Yanks."

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/01/13/696259/Russia-sanctions-monetary-control-US-imperial-system-

"‘US monetary control of world will collapse’ due to Ukraine war: French expert"

In an interview with Le Figaro on Friday, French historian and anthropologist Emmanuel Todd said, “If the Russian economy offers long-term resistance to sanctions and manages to bleed the European economy white and manages to survive with Chinese support, US monetary control of the world will collapse and with it, the US’ ability to finance its mammoth trade deficit for next to nothing.”

"The US is weakened by the Ukraine war" is a braindead take.

[NOVA Green]

I don't believe these supposed details about the latest US package to Ukraine have yet been posted here.... if they have been, apologies in advance.

The Biden administration is preparing to announce a roughly $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to include dozens of Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, according to two people familiar with the decision, as the Pentagon intensifies its support ahead of an expected counteroffensive against entrenched Russian forces.

The coming transfer could contain nearly 100 Strykers, one of these people said. It would mark the first time the Pentagon has supplied Ukraine with such vehicles. Those familiar with the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it ahead of a formal announcement.


The Bradley fighting vehicles included in this transfer will be in addition to those announced earlier this month in a separate $3 billion arms package, the people said. The next tranche of aid also will include a substantial restock of ammunition for howitzers and rocket artillery, they said, and more mine-resistant vehicles.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/18/stryker-bradley-armored-vehicles-ukraine/

[Storr]

Looking beyond tanks:

https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1615806474399416320?s=20&t=qkU4xxsqi...

[Storr]

въз основа

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1615826161908551682?s=20&t=qkU4xxsq...

[Hindsight was 2020]

Russian confirmed casualty count update.
https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/11/casualties_eng

How does Russia try to explain why causalities rates are that low but they keep losing battles like Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, etc..?

[NOVA Green]

Some of y'all on this thread might have been occasionally following the "spy wars" involving both Russia and Ukraine in recent years...

We already know that Ukraine has one of the largest intelligence agencies for a country of its population, and also that Russia has long had a thumb in the mix and heavy infiltration of both Ukrainian Intelligence agencies, as well as elected officials, and government employees in various parts of the country which accelerated after the Maidan Revolution.

Very long article and honestly no idea WTF the truth is here so just a teaser here...

Days after Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian intelligence agents left a corpse on a sidewalk in the center of Kyiv with a bullet hole in the back of the skull.

The dead man, 45-year-old banker Denys Kiryeyev, was killed as a traitor. The Security Service of Ukraine—the country’s primary domestic intelligence agency, known as the SBU—shot Mr. Kiryeyev because he was allegedly spying for Moscow, an agency official said.

Yet days after Mr. Kiryeyev’s body was dumped, he was buried a hero and interred next to Ukraine’s first foreign minister. According to Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, Mr. Kiryeyev had passed on information from his Russian contacts that helped Ukrainian forces successfully defend their capital city last February. “If it were not for Mr. Kiryeyev, most likely Kyiv would have been taken,” the general said.

For years, Russia invested the equivalent of billions of dollars to infiltrate Ukraine’s political and intelligence circles, seeking to divide loyalties within Ukraine’s spy agencies and to establish a network of agents should Moscow decide to attempt to seize the country. Past decades of political corruption also eroded public trust. Russian officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Kiryeyev at various times appeared to belong to each of the opposing camps. He had traded a career at Western financial institutions to manage money and assets for two wealthy brothers who had close ties to Russia-aligned Ukrainian politicians. The work paid for Mr. Kiryeyev’s real estate, a fleet of cars and vacations in Greece and Paris. It also cast a shadow on his reputation among officials and colleagues worried about Russian influence.

This article was based on financial and intelligence documents and interviews with U.S. and Ukrainian government officials, current and former members of Ukrainian security agencies, as well as Mr. Kiryeyev’s family, friends, bodyguards and business associates.

All for now....

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-spy-or-ukrainian-hero-the-strange-death-of-denys-kiryeyev-11674059395?mod=hp_lead_pos6

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1615823291712774168

Germany: "We're not going to get ahead of our NATO allies in sending tanks."

UK: *sends tanks*

Germany: "Well, obviously we weren't talking about that NATO ally, we meant the Yanks."

To be fair, I think pretty much every single time Germany has agreed to send weapons to Ukraine it had done so after America had taken the same step first.

[CanadianDemocrat]

Russian confirmed casualty count update.
https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/11/casualties_eng

How does Russia try to explain why causalities rates are that low but they keep losing battles like Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, etc..?

Any Russian casualties that they admit, you have to multiply it by 10. Never trust Russian propaganda. Russia has over 115,000 dead over the last 11 months.

Russia lost 15,000 soldiers in the 10 year Soviet-Afghan War. Russians are claiming that their dead soldiers are missing and cremating the soldiers, so they don't have to pay money to the families.

[Storr]

Ukrainian Railways reopened a closed railway line crossing into Romania (I only posted the first 3 tweets of the thread):

https://twitter.com/AKamyshin/status/1615476975870660610?s=20&t=giRp-pbbU0GJ...

https://twitter.com/AKamyshin/status/1615476992027291648?s=20&t=giRp-pbbU0GJ...

Out of curiosity, I decided to look up what gauge the line from Valea Vişeului to Câmpulung la Tisa is...and sure enough it's dual 1435 mm Standard Gauge and 1520 mm Russian Gauge:

[Woody]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Suriyakmaps/status/1615853583756414977?cxt=HHwWgsC-zb...

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1615913026359799809?s=20&t=atlNIl1i...

[jaichind]

https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/zelensky-says-hes-not-sure-putin-still-alive

"Zelensky says he's not sure Putin 'still alive'"

[CumbrianLefty]

въз основа

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1615826161908551682?s=20&t=qkU4xxsq...

Based Bulgaria

[Torie]

https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1615823291712774168

Germany: "We're not going to get ahead of our NATO allies in sending tanks."

UK: *sends tanks*

Germany: "Well, obviously we weren't talking about that NATO ally, we meant the Yanks."

I was  speculating with my cousin the other day that if the US had evolved the way Canada did, and had remained or fallen back into the arms of the mother country, and then been part of the commonwealth, that the two world wars of the 20th century would never had happened.
The Kaiser was a mess, but not nutter. Germany these days can sometimes be as irritating as France. But hey, if it induces Biden to get going, it's all good.

[Storr]

въз основа

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1615826161908551682?s=20&t=qkU4xxsq...

Based Bulgaria

Based Denmark and Estonia too

"The Danish defense has purchased 15 of the artillery systems that [were delivered] in 2020, as well as a further four that were scheduled to be delivered in 2023."

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1616084196052566018?s=20&t=atlNIl...

https://twitter.com/kajakallas/status/1615991102779101185?s=20&t=atlNIl1io3y...

[Storr]

Anti-Aircraft systems have been placed the roofs of central Moscow buildings, including the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, 19 Znamenka Street:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1616101486034927616?s=20&t=atlNIl...

https://twitter.com/auto_glam/status/1616104008925708288?s=20&t=dcIKzbGDZF8A...

[jaichind]

[Virginiá]

Getting hard to keep track of all the military aid being announced the past week. Might have to make a list to post here once it's all done.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Infratest-dimap (for ARD-Deutschlandtrend) did a huge main battle tank poll in Germany.


Germany should deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine
Support 46%
Oppose 43%


Western states (old FRG) only
Support 50%
Oppose 38%

Eastern states (ex-GDR) only
Support 32%
Oppose 59%


CDU/CSU voters only
Support 66%
Oppose 29%

Green voters only
Support 61%
Oppose 21%

SPD voters only
Support 49%
Oppose 40%

FDP voters only
Support 48%
Oppose 48%

AfD voters only
Support 10%
Oppose 84%


Age bracket 18-34
Support 37%
Oppose 52%

Age bracket 35-49
Support 40%
Oppose 48%

Age bracket 50-64
Support 51%
Oppose 39%

Age bracket 65+
Support 52%
Oppose 36%


https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend/deutschlandtrend-3277.html

[Torie]

It makes me feel so much safer knowing that Macedonia has 10 tanks.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Not anymore lol

[Woody]

Wagner might soon finally get their long sought after "encirclement" of Bakhmut. Question is if the AFU will repeat Lysychansk (strategic withdrawal), or make a final stand?

https://mobile.twitter.com/War_cube_/status/1616158200415256601?cxt=HHwWsoCwycHU...
https://mobile.twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1616160284745338881
https://mobile.twitter.com/War_cube_/status/1616154377479401472?cxt=HHwWgMDRvf71...